On Thursday, Dec. 1 at 7pm in Lindley 102 we will be having our weekly movie night. The film on this evening will be an atrocity called Flywheel (2003), about an unhappy used car salesman who decides to stop being mean and devote his life to God, then finds that all of the problems ever are solved by that decision. The film grossed $37,000. Watch a trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sVlvjqbo-w (trigger warning: bad writing, bad acting, bad cinematography)

In lieu of our normal movie night, we will spend this Thursday evening making signs. Join us in Lindley 102 at 7pm to watch Youtube videos and make funtastic signage.

Our student newspaper, the Indiana Daily Student, recently had an article about a local church and their “Hell House,” a hell-themed haunted house/brainwashing adventure that preaches Christian doctrine. (Read the article here.)

House of Prayer is a slightly liberal church a few miles from campus. Here’s a quote from the above article wherein a member of the church summarizes what I took to be the general attitude of the church:

“I believe God loves the homosexual. I believe he loves the alcoholic. He loves the drug addict. He loves the old mangy biker scum guy, and he loves us the way we are, but he loves us too much to leave us that way.”

So, as liberal as they might be they still adhere to the typical Christian practice of forcing others to conform to strict ‘moral’ guidelines.

I’d like to share my response to the article, which I submitted in the form of a letter to the editor. Read more »

In celebration of the birth of one of the world’s greatest science communicators, the Secular Alliance shall partake in pizza and apple pie while watching Cosmos on Sunday, Nov. 6th at 3pm in Swain East 105.

At 6:30pm we will meet the Astronomy Club at the Sample Gates and do some observing at the Kirkwood Observatory. This is a rare opportunity so I encourage members to come!

**Note: we will not be having a regular Russell’s Tea Party on this date.**

Brother Jed may think we all deserve hell, but we think that he deserves a great, loving counter-protest by IU’s only community of secular and nonreligious folk. We will be hanging out with Brother Jed and trolling/protesting him with love, humor and sarcasm. We hope to make this an event that is enjoyable by all. We *do not* wish to antagonize him or be cruel to him, no matter what.

The plan is to meet outside the IMU (in the back near the green awning, by the Starbucks, down the road from Ballantine) at 12:45 to distribute signs and unify our tactics. Come in your SAIU shirt! If you don’t have one, you can buy one on Thursday or on Friday before the protest (for $20, email me with your size and I can have it ready for you!). We will march over around 1:00 and arrive as a group.

RSVP to the Facebook event!

We will meet Thursday, Nov. 3rd at 7pm in Lindley 102 to make signs for this event. We will not be having a regular movie night on Thursday.

Yes! It’s here again! Rocky Horror will be at the Buskirk-Chumley theatre on Saturday, Oct. 29 at 11:59 pm and we (Sexular Alliance?) will be attending. We need to get there early in order to all get seats together, so we will meet in front of the theater at 10:59pm.

Costumes are strongly encouraged.

$10 In advance
$15 At the door

Order online to secure your ticket! * Be sure that you are purchasing tickets to the midnight showing. *

http://www.bctboxoffice.com/index.php?option=com_redevent&view=details&id=83%3Athe-rocky-horror-picture-show&xref=215

We will also be partying beforehand beginning at 8pm at an undisclosed location. Send me a message if you want in.

The SAIU will be joining several groups around the country in confronting homeopathy on Friday, 10/28.

Homeopathy is renowned for both its popularity and the overwhelmingly unsubstantiated pseudoscientific tenets it purports. In the UK, the growing 10/23 protest has called for the end of government support of homeopathic companies and it’s about time the United States joined her sibling.

The Food and Drug Administration regulates the homeopathic industry not to lend credibility to such products, but to supposedly protect consumers from products that can kill them. This is not enough. Just like with actual medications (as homeopaths liken their products to), testing of the claims made by such companies must be both accurate and rigorous. Without such standards, homeopaths openly use the stamp of FDA approval to advertise for the effectiveness of homeopathic remedies.

Join the growing numbers who are taking a stand for science-based medicine. Join us on October 28th in confronting homeopathy and demanding that the FDA require peer-reviewed, scientific research in order to garner its approval. Take a stand for science!

Are you a supporter of homeopathy? Come out and join us for respectful debate.

** NOTE: we will be keeping this event respectful and we will not be turning people away for their beliefs. **

Here is a James Randi lecture on homeopathy.
Here is information about the CFI/CSI petition to the FDA on regulation and testing of homeopathy.

Thursday, Oct. 27 at 7pm in Lindley 102 we will have our weekly movie night. We will watch The Evil Dead, a comedy/horror film from 1981. IMDb sez: “Five friends travel to a cabin in the woods, where they unknowingly release flesh-possessing demon.”

Lindley Hall is located on the southeast corner of Dunn Woods, north of Rawles Hall. Map here: http://g.co/maps/pgtx

Thursday, Oct. 20 at 7pm in Lindley 102 we will watch Crimes and Misdemeanors, a 1989 Woody Allen comedy/drama film about romance, responsibility and morality, told through the stories of two men in tricky relationships.

Lindley Hall is located on the southeast corner of Dunn Woods, north of Rawles Hall. Map here: http://g.co/maps/pgtx

Tom Flynn, executive director of the Council for Secular Humanism and editor of its magazine Free Inquiry, tackles the question people ask most about the secular humanist lifestance. What is it? How does it relate to religion? Is secular humanism a religion, or something else altogether? How does it relate to other nonreligious stances like atheism, agnosticism, and freethought? Who are America’s secular humanists and how do they go about building fulfilling, value-rich lives without invisible means of support – and how do they do that in a society that is often hostile to them?

Tom Flynn will be speaking in Ballantine Hall 310 at 7pm. He will be available to answer questions after the talk!

Respond to the Facebook event here.